an old English children’s song, which may refer to the life of Henry VIII . Some people think that the birds in the song represent the Roman Catholic choirs after the Dissolution of the Monasteries . Most people in Britain know the first verse:
Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing,
Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?